The Copa Sudamericana (South American Cup in English) is an international football tournament that takes place once every year, and features the best club teams, which are part of the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF confederations. It is similar to the UEFA Cup. The Copa Sudamerica became sponsored by the Japanese automobile company Nissan in 2003 and changed its name to the Copa Nissan Sudamericana.

The competition features a total 34 teams from all around South America. Formed in 2002, it is considered to be one of the most important competitions for South American club teams. Each nations association is granted certain amount of teams which enter into the competition, based on the league’s strengths. The Copa Nissan Sudamericana is played in a two led knockout stages, with teams from the same country playing each other during the first leg of the competition.

The most recent winner of the competition was the Argentinean football club Arsenal de Sarandí, when it beat another Argentinean team River Plate, 4-2 in a penelty shootout, due to a number of saves from Arsenal’s goalkeeper Mario Cuenca. The Argentinean football club team Boca Juniors have been most successful in this competition, winning a total of 2 Copa Sudamericana Cups.

Copa Sudamericana— A New Prestigious Competition

The Copa Nissan Sudamericana is a relatively new competition, as it was created in 2002. After the Copa CONMEBOL, Copa Merconorte and Copa Mercosur were disconnected a need for a major club competition arose, and instead of creating a Pan- American club competition, the Copa Sudamericana was made, in order to feature the best club teams South America. It is considered as one of the hardest competitions for club teams to compete in, as only the best of the best are able to participate in the Copasudamericana, yet alone win it. Recently the top scorer of the tournament was Ricardo Manuel Ciciliano.